Nightmare Reality
by Scarlet Heir
Summary: Ratings may change. Which reality is real? Which world is true. How will he survive? Kenshin Himura must face himself in this tale of twisted terror.
1. Default Chapter

He was in the rafters, looking through the shafts of light to the dusty ground below.

She was asleep, her raven locks flayed out behind her in a silk cascade around her, Pale, bruised skin shone in the early morning light.

Her eyes fluttered open, warmth and hope eminating from her for a few moments before she remembered where she was.

All warm emotion faded instantly, to become a dull curtain of hate and despair, her shining blue eyes turned a pale grey.

He watched as the battosai came into the small hut, came in and stood over her.

He stayed silent as she was struk again and again.

He was silent.

She didn't say anything when the battosai said her name.

"Kaoru." Such a sweet name, filled with hope and joy, but now it was the name of despair and sorrow alive.

He said her name again, the battosai.

"Kaoru, stand up. You are coming with me." He said to her.

Kaoru didn't stand, she backed away from him, into the shadows.

Finally, he had had enough.

He jumped down on top of the battosai, masking his presence as he slammed his fist into the blood haired man's neck.

The battosai didn't fall, he threw him off.

"Kenshin." He said, snarling.

"Battosai." He said, drawing the daggar.

Suddenly Kenshin was on the floor, looking up at the battosai, looking up at the mirror image of himself.

"Die." Battosai said, swinging down toward him with the sword.

---------------

Kenshin woke with a start. He was beside Kaoru, they were married now, and they were happy.

He looked down at the bulge below the covers, His child.

He smiled shakily, staring at her

This is his place of refuge, his home. The Kamiya-Himura dojo.

Yahiko was asleep down the hall, Kenshin could hear him stir.

Sanouske and Megumi were travelling around now, wandering through the west.

He watched and waited as the sun began to rise on the horizon.

Then her eyes opened, pure and blue.

Innocent eyes, ones that had seen many things.

she tried to sit up, but had forgotten about her added roundness, and failed.

then she remembered and rolled onto her side.

When she sat up, she looked down at him, and he looked up at her.

"Mornin' shinto." she chirped, grinning at him.

"Good morning, Kaoru." he said, sitting up with her.

He kissed her lightly on the forehead, resting a calloused palm on her swollen womb.

Then she was alone, left to watch him recede through the shojo.

---

Kenshin stepped out into the hallway, a slight frown on his face.

He felt a dark presence.

He had no sword, only a bokken.

he snarled as he grabbed the bamboo stick.

"What do you want?" he demanded as he caught a flash to his left.

Suddenly, he was face to face with himself.

He stared at the imposter's red hair, thin slim body, Fusha Hakama and Gi.

There was only one difference.

He had cold eyes, the eyes of a killer.

"No." He sighed, backiing away.

"I have come to collect my prize, Kenshin." His own mouth said, as he watched himself draw a katana.

He ran backwards, down the hallway, toward his one ground, toward kaoru.

---------------

He moaned as the sunlight penetrated his eyelids.

He heard movement around him.

He opened his eyes to see a thin, pretty face above him.

"You're awake. I thought you would die. What's your name?" She asked him, her blue eyes penetrating deep into his violet ones.

"Kenshin, Kenshin Himura." he said, his brows furrowing together in confusion.

"I'm Kaoru. Why were you up in those rafters?" She asked, helping him to sit up.

"I..." He said, trailing off when he saw the daggar in the hay.

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Alright that's your first chapter and prologue put together.

Tell me if i should continue.

Think about it. -me. 


	2. Nightmares in turn

Kenshin stared at the daggar. The cold metal shone with sunlight.

There was blood on his lip, he ran a tounge over his teeth and found none missing or chipped. It was just his lip.

He grabbed the daggar and stuck it in it's sheath behind his back.

"I'm alive." he said, looking down at himself in awe.

"I...I stopped him. He just stared down at me, laughed that horrible laugh, and left." She said, answering his unasked question.

She pushed the food toward him and sat back down in the corner.

"I don't need it." she said, her voice soft.

She stared down at the ground, pale blue eyes staring at the dirt and straw.

"You need to eat. i'm going to get us away from him." Kenshin whispered, laying the food beside her as he sat down.

"I did get away...Once. I got away and he found me. he beat me and....and he brought me here." She said, tears in her eyes. "It's hopeless to get away. We've got to kill him." She said, her eyes hardening suddenly.

"I can't take a human life." He said. more to himself. The oath would be broken if he took even one life.

"I'm going to kill him." She whispered, he barely caught it.

------------------

Kenshin stumbled over something in the floor and fell back, hitting his head.

When he came-to, he was in Kaouru's arms.

"K..Kaouru?" He asked, staring up at her, violet eyes filled with confusion.

Then he sat up strait, looking for the monster.

"Shinta? What's wrong?" Kaouru asked, worriedly.

"It's nothing, love. I'll go cook breakfast now, that i will." He said, holding his hand out to help her stand.

"Just be more careful, Okay. I don't want another on you." It was their shared, private joke.

"Maa. Maa." He said, grinning as he walked into the kitchen.

----------------------------

Kenshin stared at the dust swirling in the afternoon sun. Kaouru was eating their dinner. He wasn't hungry and he insisted that she eat it.

His lip had stopped bleeding long ago, but he still tasted blood.

He stared down at the carved steel hilt of the daggar. It was a ceremonial daggar, celtic knots and symbols carved into the intracitely molded peice.

"Where did you get it?" Kaouru's curious voice startled him.

"Oro?" He asked, looking up at her.

"The daggar...Where did you get it?" She asked again.

"I've always had it, i think." he said.

"It's beautiful." She said.

He nodded in agreement and sheathed the blade.

The door opened and the battosai stepped in.

"So, Kenshin, You have finally come to face me? It's touching that you even found your betrothed while stalking me. And you tried to save her the day i was to set her free." He raised the Katana and slashed down easily cutting a peice of board from the post.

Kenshin stared.

"She was to be mine today. And you stopped it. You showed up. Now, my dear brother, You must die." Battosai sheathed the sword and shifted into a bakamatsu stance.

Kenshin gripped the sword and prepared to unleash the deadly blade as the world started to spin.

then the world went black...

---------------------------

"Shinta!" Kaouru screamed from the hall.

Kenshin grabbed the decorative knife and raced out into the hallway.

"Kaouru!" He yelled, racing for the origin of her voice.

"Stop right there, Brother." A cold voice said from behind him.

He turned and found the battosai standing before him.

"Don't you DARE hurt her!" Kenshin said coldly.

"I wouldn't dare harm my prize." The battosai said, grinning evilly.

Kenshin assumed a bakamatsu stance, the beautifully carved daggar a deadly weapon in his hands.

Suddenly the world went black.

---------------

Kenshin was standing in a familliar stance, but he wasn't in the same area. He was now in a hallway, and it was morning.

He stared up and his eyes widened in shock.

The battosai was wearing pink!?! He wasn't wearing that before. But he felt that somehow this was right.

"Shinta! My water broke!" Kaouru screamed from a room down the hall.

The battosai stared down at him. "You are not my brother, are you? All the well. I will kill you none-the-less." Battosai grinned and barked a sadistic laugh.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed and he shifted deeper into the bakamatsu stance.

"DIE!" Battosai laughed gleefully.

"No!" Kenshin said, dodging the blow. He kicked the mirror image of himself onto the ground.

He jumped onto the figure and punched it into unconsiousness.

Kaouru screamed and he stopped. "Kaouru!" He ghasped, racing toward the origin of the scream.

---------------------

Kenshin was standing in some kind of barn, his double stood in a familiar stance before him. The bakamatsu.

"Kenshin! Don't!" Kaouru whispered from the corner.

He glanced at her.

She was thin, almost ghostlike. Her face was pale and he could tell that she was in pain.

Wait..She called him Kenshin?

"Die, brother." Battosai said, attacking.

"I think not!" Kenshin said, blocking the blows with the blade in his hands.

He cut the battosai across the chest, a wound that he knew would only slow him down.

"Kaouru, come on!" Kenshin yelled, distracting the battosai with blows that would keep him down for at least long enough for them to get away.

"I will get you again, my Kaouru!" Battosai screamed at their retreating backs. 


End file.
